Californian lawyer Adrienne Salerno created a budding wine community, sharing her passion for the country’s wines
Choosing a bottle of Portuguese wine can sometimes be daunting. The country’s growing wine industry doesn’t make it any easier; every week, a new label appears on supermarket shelves.
So, how do you decide which region to choose, and which varieties will please your palate?
To gain a clearer understanding of the vibrant world of Portuguese wines, appreciate different regions, their styles, recognise each variety’s characteristics, and above all, share her passion for her new home country’s wines, American entrepreneur Adrienne Salerno founded Terra Doce. This unique platform is where she celebrates Portuguese wines, offers exclusive experiences, tastings, educational events, and a wine club.
Originally from San Diego, the 42-year-old mother of two studied in Los Angeles, where she lived until she and her husband made the bold decision to move abroad. “I wasn’t a professional in wine until I moved to Portugal,” she explains. “I was a lawyer. I was a commercial litigator right out of law school, and then I left law and went into real estate.” However, wine had been on her radar since she was a child.
“I’ve always loved wine. I grew up in a family of wine lovers, travellers, and collectors. As I grew older and travelled more, I really started to love it. But my actual tipping point was right after I had my daughter. I needed a declaration of my own independence from being a new mum; I needed to do something solely for myself,” Adrienne recalls.
“So, I enrolled in a wine course at UCLA, just for something interesting to do. And that was really an introduction to more formal education and training in wine: learning about it, how to talk about it, how to analyse it, what you taste in the glass, and that formal education.”
Not only did she need a project of her own, but she and her husband Joe felt they also needed a bigger change. “We had a very stressful daily life, juggling everything. I was working too much – watching the weeks and years fly by and not enjoying them much,” she admits.
Having considered living in Europe someday, it was time to make that change. “Since my husband is partly Italian, we started researching whether we could obtain Italian citizenship through heritage. We hit some dead ends with paperwork, so we began exploring other visa options.”
Portugal was the obvious choice for the couple. “It was really based on general research. Trying to find the easiest place to settle as foreigners, with a young child, and, while we wanted to integrate ourselves into whatever community we were moving to, we knew we needed a supportive environment with people to communicate with, and a welcoming atmosphere,” she explains.
They settled in Lagos in 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “We had planned to take a year off to settle into Portuguese life, live off our savings, explore and travel in Europe, and figure out the next move,” recalls Adrienne.
“But it was the pandemic. So, you couldn’t travel. It was challenging, but it also forced us to establish roots here that we might not have otherwise. We had to make friends and start learning the language.”
Five and a half years later, they feel at home in the Algarve, and Adrienne has reinvented herself through her passion for wine.
She explains: “I wanted to do something creative, but also social, within the community, connecting these elements. I began forming this idea and immersed myself in a study of Portugal and Portuguese wines. I just wanted to learn as much as I could. And the more I learned, the more I realised that, surely, others would like to learn about it too.”
This is how Terra Doce (Sweet Earth) was founded in 2022: as a way for Adrienne to share her passion and knowledge in an accessible, engaging, and down-to-earth manner through tasting events, of which she now organises two or three each month.
Each event features a specific theme, whether a single varietal, region or producer. “I recently organised an event showcasing wines made in Talha (amphora). I also hosted an event highlighting wines cultivated at a high-altitude vineyard,” points out Adrienne, who has recently obtained her WSET Level 3 qualification. Each session begins with a brief introduction to the theme, explaining why it’s interesting or what to look for in such wines.
“So, before each glass is poured or each wine is sampled, I give a summary of what to expect, or we walk through what we’re tasting. I don’t have a strict script, but I aim to keep things relaxed and breezy, ensuring people gain some understanding and appreciation, not just drinking without thought. I usually serve four wines; sometimes five. But beyond that, I’ve found it’s simply too much, no matter how good the wine is.”
Adrienne also plans to expand beyond Lagos. “That’s the aim – not at the expense of Lagos, but to grow. I hosted a pairing dinner at Rolha in Porches last August, which was great fun,” highlights the entrepreneur, who has also launched a wine club, through which members discover a selection of six Portuguese wines every three months.
“I always try to include at least one wine from the Algarve because that’s where we are, and I want to support local producers. But part of the experience I am sharing is a selection of bottles from all over Portugal, with tasting notes and back ground on the terroir, the grapes, the winemaker, and the story.”
A unique way to discover a curated selection of Portuguese wines in the comfort of your home.
The wine club offers several options: the Explorer boxes are €100 each. There is also a Discovery option with more premium wines at €200 per box, featuring a variety of white, rosé, spar kling, and red wines, depending on the season. Adrienne will additionally offer boxes of only whites and rosés, or only reds, at €150 per box.
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